John Calvin The Lawyer - Protestant Gnostic? pt1 continued

7 months ago
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Both Calvinism and Gnosticism emphasise the idea of a select group of people who are chosen for salvation with secret knowledge (Calvin called it "secret testimony"), while the rest are condemned to damnation.
How exactly did Calvin justify a 66-book Biblical canon?
And, was John Calvin logically irrational in his thinking?

Calvinism is a branch of Protestantism founded by John Calvin in the 16th century. It emphasises doctrines like predestination, total depravity of man, and salvation by grace alone. It has Gnostic characteristics.

Definitions: - Gnosticism: An early Christian sect that emphasised secret spiritual knowledge (gnosis) and dualism between spirit and matter. Gnostics saw the material world as imperfect or evil, and believed spiritual enlightenment was the way to salvation.

Key Calvinist doctrines:
Predestination - God foreordains all events
Depravity - Man is utterly unable to do good without God, a slave to evil.
Grace alone - Salvation is achieved by grace, not works.

The case for Gnostic tendencies:
- Dualism: Calvinism sees a radical separation between the perfection of God and the depravity of man. This mirrors the Gnostic dualism between spirit and matter.
- Predestination: God's will is mysterious and predetermined. This is similar to the Gnostic belief in a secret, predetermined path to enlightenment.
- Material world: The Calvinist view of total depravity sees the material world and human free will as irreparably flawed. This resonates with the Gnostic distrust of matter and free will.

- God affirmed the material world: Unlike Gnostics, Calvinists believe God created the material world good, and still affirms it. They do not reject matter itself.

Let's explore.

Full Archive - see Atheism folder for reference works:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BGrC1fxB-ym-ZQ64TtfYEG0vQtYCOIL6?usp=sharing

Where Was Your Church before Luther? Claims for the Antiquity of Protestantism Examined
S. J. Barnett - Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture / Volume 68 / Issue 01 / March 1999, https://drive.google.com/file/d/12uOvSr-RbMaY5IJj6qnrX-SAwHOToipw/view?usp=drive_link

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Reliance of the Traveller - Umdat al Salik (Sacred Islamic law)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ByYbgLPhHE4rkyQ-k-ovrQ5l55kEhf9m/view?usp=sharing
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0f1ga9cvekt18au/Reliance-of-the-Traveller-AppendixW.pdf

Islam - Shared Searchable Online Database: https://1drv.ms/o/s!BJTCgSI6HCcm33ovzTNDT9uPoT7q?e=jdqcMD6DQkG-lAYFnUg45w&at=9

Authentic Seerah and Famous but Unauthentic stories from The Seerah of The Prophet Muhammad
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